Public faith in governmental programmes being what they are, nowonder that the newly elected Thiruvananthapuram city corporation'sannouncement about cleaning upthe city fetched no cheers.
The programme, "Green city,clean city", initially had few takers;but,very soon, a large number of residents' associations 'and voluntaryorganisations along with students,jumped into the fray, much to thepleasant surprise of municipalauthorities. And soon, the, de-siltingand cleaning of the entire networkof 492 km of drains ended lastmonth.
That was just the first phase ofthe initiative. "This shows that thedrive was a tremendous success, withfull public participation,' beamedPeeru Mohammad, health officer ofthe city corporation. He admittedthat lack of enthusiasm and Initiativewere the main reasons for the failureof earlier attempts.
The cleaning of the drains failingunder 50 wards of the city wasadmittedly the most difficult part ofthe task. Some 600 workers; officialand voluntary, had worked on thisphase of the clean-up.
At the end of operations everyday, the mayor, the corporation secretary and councilors formulated thenext day's plans in an evaluationmeeting. Officials stressed on permanent facilities for the removal of sandand silt, as the dogged drains weremainly responsible for the annualflooding of the city. But sewagewater disposal remains anintractable problem. The corporationwas able to remove only 60 per centof the estimated 300 tonnes of wastewater generated every day.
The garbage disposal site nearthe city's international airport wasclosed in 1985, due to bird menaceaffecting flights. Last year, the government acquired a 5.06 ha site in the110 offoutskirts of the city for disposing off garbage effectively. But now residents, fearing groundwater pollution, have formed a council to fight against the plan.